Titan suffers narrow loss to Mitchell

On Thursday, Jan. 23 the Tea Area High School boys’ basketball team hosted Mitchell. The Titans found themselves trailing early, 19-11 after the opening quarter, but battled back. Unfortunately, Tea Area suffered the 53-49 loss. 

“This was a very intense, high-level basketball game against two top teams. Mitchell returned most of their key guys from last year’s State Championship team and we were right there with a chance to win down the stretch,” said Titan head coach Drew Weber. “Their size proved to be a little much at times on the boards, but our biggest issue was struggling in the first quarter for the first time all season. We were able to weather the storm and even tied the game a couple times, but just weren’t quite able to ever take the lead. I loved our team’s competitiveness I’m certain we will be able to pull out some wins against these top teams remaining on our schedule.”

Three Titans were in double figures on the night with Grifin Wiebenga leading the way with 18 points. He also had six rebounds, one assist and one steal. Gavin Shawd finished with 12 points, one rebound and Marshall Smythe added 11 points, grabbed six rebounds and had three assists and two steals. 

Rylan Norris finished with four points and Mitch Grant added two points, grabbed four rebounds, and had one assist. Jaxson Merrigan also had two points in the game. 

Tea Area faced off against an undefeated Sioux Falls Christian team at the Sanford Pentagon on Jan. 28, watch next week for complete results. They will host Sioux Falls Lincoln on Saturday, Feb. 1 in a 7 p.m. match-up.